Rights of pharmacists versus the rights of women: Case study in Washington State

According to the Guttmacher Institute only 17 states and the District of Columbia require hospitals emergency rooms to provide emergency contraception (EC) related services to sexual assault victims. In the state of Pennsylvania health service providers may refuse treatment based on religious or moral beliefs as long as they provide immediate transportation to the closest medical facility. In Texas the Medicaid Family Planning Expansion (Title X) explicitly excludes EC.

Washington State and the Board of Pharmacy are under pressure from one local pharmacy (Ralph’s Thriftway, Olympia) regarding a 2007 law put into place by Governor Chris Gregoire (WA). The law requires pharmacists to dispense all legal drugs, irrespective of moral or religious beliefs. This lawsuit is specific to the emergency contraceptive Plan B, but could have an impact on the dispensation of hundreds of legal drugs, such as HIV medication or birth control.

As the new law stands a pharmacist is allowed to deny distribution if they can “pass a patient to a co-worker.” The pharmacy is still under legal obligation to fill the prescription.

This new stipulation could limit access to not only emergency contraception, but birth control and HIV medication due to ‘conscientious reasons.’ The referral system, although a seemingly appropriate compromise in urban areas, becomes a challenge in rural areas where pharmacies are a long distance away or there is only one for miles. Not to mention women that may not have readily available access to transportation or the resources to cover transportation costs. The referral system becomes an additional challenge for time sensitive drugs, like Plan B which needs to be taken within the first 72 hours in order to be effective.